Strong Reactions As Spelman College In Atlanta Opens Doors To Transgender Women

ATLANTA, GA -- Atlanta's Spelman College announced this week that it is opening its doors to transgender female students. The decision, announced Wednesday by President Mary Schmidt Campbell, immediately places the prominent Atlanta school as a pioneer among historically black colleges (Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., also admits transgender students).

In a letter to students and faculty, Campbell said the college's new enrollment policy is consistent with the times we live in. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

"Spelman is taking into account evolving definitions of gender identity in a changing world and taking steps to ensure that our policies and plans reflect those changes in a manner that is consistent with our mission and the law," Campbell said.

Spelman College, a Historically Black College whose mission is to serve high-achieving black women, will consider for admission women students including students who consistently live and self-identify as women, regardless of their gender assignment at birth."

Campbell said that the college will still not admit male students, "including those who self-identify and live consistently as men, regardless of gender assignment at birth." She said that if a woman is admitted and transitions to male while a student at Spelman, "the college will permit that student to continue to matriculate at and graduate from Spelman."

The decision, which briefly trended on Twitter, was met with cheers from many students and alumni.

On Facebook, several commenters said the issue touched them personally. "As a proud Howard woman I have said my daughter only has one choice for college. Because of this policy she now has two - Spelman. I'm incredibly joyful for Spelman's leadership," wrote Victoria Y.

But not everyone shared in the celebration. Some commenters wondered why parents weren't consulted on the decision. Indicative of those sentiments was this comment:

"I am very grateful to Spelman College and the sisterhood that is exhibited. But I cannot pretend that I am excited about transgendered women being allowed to attend Spelman with the limited information that was given from the President. I have too many questions that need to answered before I am accepting of this idea. The parents should have been included in this discussion," Munichia M. wrote.

In July, Spelman launched an LGBTQ scholarship program. In April, Campbell convened a Transgender Policy Task Force to review updating the college's admissions policy. Nearly 10 all-women's schools have announced plans to allow transgender students, including Oakland's Mills College in 2014, and more recently Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and Barnard College in New York.

Campbell said the updated admissions policy will take effect for the 2018-19 school year.

Image via Spelman College